How to Test Your Site for Updating to Gutenberg (WordPress 5.0)

Are you excited to use the new WordPress Gutenberg editor? Officially launched with WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg is the new default content editor for WordPress that allows you create visually stunning content using blocks. The challenge is that some themes and plugins may not properly support Gutenberg, so updating your website can cause unexpected issues. In this article, we’ll show you how to test your WordPress site for updating to Gutenberg and WordPress 5.0. Why Test Your WordPress Site Before Updating to Gutenberg? WordPress 5.0 brings a totally new way of creating content with a brand new editor called The Block Editor or Gutenberg.…

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Are you excited to use the new WordPress Gutenberg editor? Officially launched with WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg is the new default content editor for WordPress that allows you create visually stunning content using blocks.

The challenge is that some themes and plugins may not properly support Gutenberg, so updating your website can cause unexpected issues.

In this article, we’ll show you how to test your WordPress site for updating to Gutenberg and WordPress 5.0.

Why Test Your WordPress Site Before Updating to Gutenberg?

WordPress 5.0 brings a totally new way of creating content with a brand new editor called The Block Editor or Gutenberg. It uses blocks which are content elements that you can move around the editor.

However due to this massive change, some users are reluctant to update their sites right away, fearing that something would not work, or it may break their website.

Gutenberg was developed over a long period with enough time for theme and plugin developers to make their products Gutenberg compatible. All top WordPress plugins are already fully compatible with Gutenberg and most themes would work without a hiccup.

However, to avoid any conflicts you may want to test your site with Gutenberg and WordPress 5.0. This would allow you to find if any of your plugins or theme are incompatible. You can also catch unexpected errors and fix them before updating your live site.

That being said, now let’s go ahead and check how to test your website for updating to Gutenberg or WordPress 5.0 step-by-step.

Step 1: Create a Complete Backup of Your Website

You must always create a complete back of your WordPress website before any major update. Backups protect you against any unfortunate damage that can happen during the update process.

Keeping regular website backups is important even if you aren’t updating your site because they can save you in catastrophic situations like malware attack, hacking, etc.

If you didn’t need to make any changes to the local site, and everything seemed ok, then you can go ahead and update your live site to WordPress 5.0.

2. Test Your Website on Staging Environment

A staging site is a separate development version of your website where you can try out new features.

It’s usually a sub-domain of your site that’s restricted from public access. It’s where you can test new updates, themes, plugins, or use it for all your development. Once you’ve tested everything necessary, you can then upload it to your live site.

Step 3: Install the Classic Editor Plugin

The most significant change in WordPress 5.0 is the new Gutenberg editor.

This means that if you were to run into any issues, then it’ll likely be caused by a plugin or theme’s incompatibility with the new editor.

It is also possible that you may not like the new editor.

Luckily, you can update to WordPress 5.0 and still keep the classic WordPress editor.

You can simply disable Gutenberg by installing the Classic Editor plugin on your WordPress site. Doing this will allow you to safely update to WordPress 5.0, while still keeping the classic editor that you’re familiar with.

Classic Editor is an official WordPress plugin from WordPress core contributors to allow you to switch back to the classic editor. With this plugin, you can hide the Gutenberg editor and create content the same way as before.

If you had to install Classic Editor because a theme or plugin wasn’t working after updating to WordPress 5.0, then you still have work to do.

You need to reach out to the theme or plugin developer and request them to make it compatible with the latest WordPress release.

If you don’t get a positive response, then you need to find an alternative theme or plugin to replace incompatible ones.

Step 4. Things to Do After Updating to Gutenberg in WordPress 5.0+

If you are just starting your first WordPress blog, then you are in luck. You’ll quickly get used to the awesome new block editor which is faster, modern, and incredibly powerful.

On the other hand, if you have been using WordPress for a while, then the new editor is an exciting new experience for you.

Most of us are used to working with the old editor and have setup our workflows around it.

Good news is that you can still do all the things you did in the old editor with Gutenberg, and then some more.

To help you learn new features, we have created a complete Gutenberg tutorial it shows how to use new block editor and create visually stunning content for your site.

We hope this article helped you to learn how to test your WordPress site for updating to Gutenberg or WordPress 5.0. For troubleshooting common errors you may encounter, check out our guide on most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.